The general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the first to win three terms in office, has died at the age of eighty. His powers had already been transferred yesterday to the former Minister of Public Security, who eliminated his rivals in the race for succession with his “fight against corruption”. Nguyen Phu Trong is the first successor of Ho Chi Minh who was received at the Vatican by Pope Benedict in 2013, at a key moment in the evolution of relations with the Holy See.
Hanoi (/Agencies) – A few hours after being admitted to hospital, Hanoi announced this afternoon the death of Nguyen Phu Trong, secretary general of the Vietnamese Communist Party, the most powerful man in the local political hierarchy. He was eighty years old and had led the party founded by Ho Chi Minh since 2011, with enough power to change the rule limiting the number of terms to two at the last Congress, obtaining, despite his advanced age, a third term that would have expired in January 2026.
His appearances had become rarer for some time and rumours circulated about his poor health. Yesterday – evidently when the situation worsened – the Party announced that he had been hospitalised and announced that his functions had been taken over by President To Lam, number two in the power hierarchy in Hanoi.
Nguyen Phu Trong’s departure comes at the height of a frenetic political situation in Hanoi. To Lam, 67, a former security minister, appears to have succeeded in disqualifying almost all those who could compete for the succession, forcing the resignation in recent months of many top Party figures who were caught up in the “fiery furnace”, the massive “anti-corruption” campaign he launched.
Particularly significant was the sudden resignation in March of President Vo Van Thuong, who was considered very close to Nguyen Phu Trong and was to be designated as the future leader. Now, however – with the official transfer of power that took place yesterday, just hours before the death of the elderly leader – To Lam is increasingly emerging as the strongman of the era that has just begun. Although it will be necessary to see in the coming weeks whether he retains the position of interim general secretary until 2026 or immediately seeks official consecration, ahead of the congress. Undoubtedly, this general, who has had an overwhelming rise in the Vietnamese political firmament, continues to exercise tight control over the Ministry of Public Security, where he has installed as successor a man of his absolute confidence, born in the same province as him.
With Nguyen Phu Trong, the main architect of what has come to be known as the “bamboo policy” has left the scene. He coined a term in 2016, associating it with the image of a plant that is strong and resilient, but also flexible and ready to adapt to different situations. Under his leadership, Vietnam has opened the doors of its economy and multiplied free trade agreements with the West and its Asian neighbours, without abandoning, at the same time, its historical relations with Beijing and Moscow. A sign of geopolitical balance that has allowed the country to double its GDP per capita and to freely enter into currently strategic sectors, such as the semiconductor market and the electric car market.
Finally, it should be recalled that Nguyen Phu Trong also played an important role in the developments in recent years in relations between Vietnam and the Vatican. In January 2013, he was the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam to visit the Vatican. Together with a large delegation of Party officials, he was received by Benedict XVI a few days before the historic announcement of his resignation, which ended his pontificate. That meeting – which was part of the process that had begun in 2009 with the creation of the joint working group between Hanoi and the Holy See – was a fundamental milestone on the road that led last year to the historic agreement under which there is today a permanent representative of the Vatican resident in Vietnam, Archbishop Marek Zalewsky. In December, then President Vo Van Thuong also officially invited Pope Francis to visit the country. This spring, the Secretary for Relations with States, Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher, travelled to Hanoi and there has been talk for some time of the re-establishment of full diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Holy See. A process that will now have to be verified in the new political phase that this death officially inaugurates in Hanoi.
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